Piqua Ohio – A drunk crying police officer who was involved in a car accident is being allowed to go home instead of jail. Piqua Police released body camera video of an officer who was ticketed for OVI.
Officer Justin Augustine, 38, is charged with OVI and operating a vehicle without reasonable control. Bodycam Video of Piqua Officer ticketed For Operating a Vehicle Impaired.
In the 9 minute video, you can see a supervisor talking with Officer Justin Augustine after he crashed his call into a trailer on October 27. Officer Augustine is accused of being drunk when he crashed his police car into a trailer.
“The first principle in any internal investigation is the department’s duty to the public,” said Piqua Chief of Police Bruce Jamison. “The second principle is the duty to provide fair procedures to any officer involved.”
The cruiser had damage to the right side from the windshield to the rear of the vehicle and both side windows were broken.
A police report said he told the supervisor, Lt. Rick Byron, he damaged the cruiser when he stopped in the lot to go the bathroom. A crash report said the cruiser passenger side hit a flatbed semi-trailer parked in the lot, causing heavy damage to the cruiser.
“Officer Augustine walked me to the passenger side of his patrol vehicle, where I observed significant damage to the entire passenger side starting at the front windshield and ending on the rear quarter panel,” officers wrote in a police report read. “While speaking with Officer Augustine, I observed that his eyes were bloodshot and red and that his speech was slow and slurred.”
A short time later, after Augustine had been taken back to the police station, another officer told the supervisor investigating that he felt the supervisor “needed to go on station to deal with Officer Augustine as he appeared to be impaired and was demonstrating odd behavior, to include hugging and kissing him and other officers and telling them that he loved them,” the report read.
Officer Augustine told investigators “he had been drunk today, but denied being drunk now,” according to the report.
Police ended up finding Four Loko Gold alcoholic beverage can in the driver’s door of Augustine’s personal vehicle at the police station and also located a can of the same drink near the crash scene, the report read.
Augustine was placed on suspension for refusing the alcohol test and was ticketed for OVI. He is scheduled to appear in court on October 31, 2018.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ0r82WKxIU&feature=youtu.be